80 



The Names of Places in Wiltshire. 



tary list, in which an account will be given of the names in which 

 they occur. 



We have now to deal with the first member of such names — that 

 which qualifies the generic term and limits its application to some 

 particular locality. For convenience sake we will class them under 

 four general heads. 



I. — Names derived from the general physical features of the 

 country. 



It will be evident that among the first names imposed by any new 

 settlers in a country would be those derived from the general physical 

 features of the country itself. Many of such names, as we have 

 already shown, were adopted from the language of the aborigines, 

 the Anglo-Saxons in not a few instances adding their own Teutonic 

 terminations to the Celtic words. But as soon as they were at all 

 settled in the country they would begin to give names derived from 

 their own language, and these would at first necessarily be descriptive 

 of the natural features of a locality. Under this head, which may 

 well include names derived from the productions of a place, whether 

 from the animal, vegetable, or mineral kingdom, may be ranged a 

 large number of words. Among such names we may place the 

 following : — 



Bradford means simply the broad ford over the Avon ; — 

 Bradlegh is the broad legh ; — Bratton is the broad village, a name 

 describing accurately enough the straggling village bearing that 

 designation close by Westbury; — Hinton (A.S. Hedntun) means 

 the high village, or that which is situated on hilly ground ; — Henley 

 is the high legh, a fair description of the table-land which is to be 

 seen in such large tracts on the tops of our downs ; — Langley is the 

 long legh, a word of frequent occurrence in Wiltshire. 



Then again from the Anglo-Saxon wudu (or wude) meaning a 

 wood, come many words. Woodford explains itself ; — Wootton, 

 i.e., " village by the wood/' is a name given to several places in the 

 vicinity of forests, e.g., Wootton Bassett by the large forest of 

 Braden, Wootton Kivers by that of Savernake. 



In late Saxon you have sceaga, which signifies wood, wilderness. 



